The DEI Team

Professor David Carless
David is a Professor in Narrative Psychology in the Institute for Sport, Physical Activity and Leisure. His research explores psychological wellbeing, mental health and identity development in physical activity and sport-related contexts.

Dr Ben Carrington
Ben is a Visiting Research Fellow of the Research Institute for Sport, Physical Activity and Leisure and part of the Diversity, Equity and Inclusion research centre. Ben also holds an appointment as an Associate Professor of Sociology at the University of Texas at Austin in the USA. His teaching and research interests cover the broad areas of race, politics, popular culture, music and sport.

Dr Jon Dart
Jon is currently a Senior Lecturer in Sports Policy and the Sociology of Sport in the School of Sport.

Dr Katherine Dashper
Kate’s research interests centre on questions of identity, diversity and (in)equality within sport and leisure, with a particular focus on equestrianism. Her research explores gender, sexuality and embodiment.

Dr Scarlett Drury
Scarlett Drury is a Senior Lecturer in Physical Education and Sport Pedagogy. Her research focuses on issues related to gender, sex and sexuality in sport and physical activity.

Dr Hayley Fitzgerald
Hayley joined Leeds Beckett University in September 2005 as a Senior Lecturer. She teaches on a range of undergraduate and postgraduate modules focusing on social and cultural aspects of leisure, sport and physical education.

Dr Thomas Fletcher
Dr Thomas Fletcher is a Senior Lecturer within Carnegie Faculty. Thomas’s current research interests are broadly related to the sociology of sport and leisure and include: ‘race’/ethnicity, social identities, heritage, and equity and diversity.

Professor Anne Flintoff
Anne is Professor in Physical Education and Sport and her teaching, research and consultancy centres on issues of equity and social inclusion, particularly gender, in physical education and sport.

Nick Halafihi
Nick is currently studying for an Educational Doctorate and is the Principal Lecturer for E-Learning. Nick also has research interests in Polynesian tattooing, E-learning, coaching for learning and the student learning experience.

Dr Samantha Holland
Dr Holland is a Research Fellow with an interest in gender, sexualities, body/embodiment, ageing, subcultures and leisure.

Professor Kevin Hylton
Kevin Hylton is Professor of Equality and Diversity in Sport, Leisure and Education. His early research focused on race equality in local government and has continued his work into developing critical race theory and disrupting racism in sport and leisure.

Dr Brett Lashua
Brett Lashua is a Senior Lecturer and Course Leader for the MA Leisure, Sport & Culture course. His scholarship is concerned with leisure, arts and cultural practices as well as urban spaces, social inequities, and cultural heritage.

Dr Leanne Norman
Dr Norman is a Research Fellow who researches within the area of women, sport, coaching and critical feminist sociology. She also contributes to the teaching profile of the School as part of the Sports Coaching & PE academic group.

Janine Partington
Janine Partington is a Senior Lecturer in Sports Development at Leeds Beckett University. Prior to this appointment, she worked in sport development for ten years for both local authorities and voluntary sector organisations.

Dr Tom Quarmby
Tom joined Leeds Beckett University in August 2012 as a Lecturer in Physical Education. He teaches on a range of undergraduate modules centred on the socio-cultural aspects of physical education, physical activity and sport.

Dr Aarti Ratna
Aarti is a senior lecturer in the sociology of sport and leisure. She is the Sport, Leisure and Culture Course Leader. Aarti is also a member of the Carnegie Faculty Equality and Diversity Advisory group and the Widening Participation group.

Professor Andrew C. Sparkes
Andrew Sparkes PhD is Professor of Sport, Physical Activity & Leisure in the Research Institute for Sport, Physical Activity & Leisure where his research interests link into those of the Centre for Active Lifestyles and the Centre for Equity, Diversity & Inclusion. He is also a full and active member of the Carnegie Faculty.

Professor Karl Spracklen
Professor Spracklen's work on leisure uses history, philosophy and sociology to understand the meaning and purpose of leisure: how free leisure choices are, and how much modern leisure is a product of constraints. He has published three key monographs on leisure theory, all with Palgrave Macmillan: The Meaning and Purpose of Leisure (2009); Constructing Leisure: Historical and Philosophical Debates (2011); and Whiteness and Leisure (2013). Professor Spracklen has published widely on leisure. He is interested in subcultures, identities, spaces and hegemonies of leisure - his research on tourism, folk music and morris, Goth, heavy metal and sport is all underpinned by a concern with the problem of leisure. His research is influenced by Habermas, Adorno, Gramsci, Bourdieu and Marx. Professor Spracklen was the Chair of the Leisure Studies Association from 2009 to 2013. Professor Spracklen is the joint editor (with Professor Karen Fox) of a book series for Palgrave Macmillan: Leisure Studies in a Global Era. He is the Principal Editor of Metal Music Studies.

Dr Davide Sterchele
Davide joined Leeds Beckett University as a Leverhulme Visiting Fellow in January 2013. He previously worked at the University of Padua, Italy, where he completed a PhD in sociology with an ethnographic research on football and inter-ethnic relationships in post-war Bosnia & Herzegovina.

Dr Annette Stride
Annette joined Leeds Beckett University in September 2009 and is a Senior Lecturer in Sports Business Management. She is currently the Course Leader of this programme, and also teaches on the Masters in PE.

Mick Totten
Mick is a Senior Lecturer in Community Leisure and Recreation. His main interests are around Community Leisure and Recreation, and Social Inclusion and Exclusion, and Community Development.

Professor Stephen Wagg
Stephen Wagg is a Professor in Sport and Society. He is widely published with subjects including Sport, Childhood, Comedy and the Media.

Dr Beccy Watson
Dr Beccy Watson’s research focuses on interrelationships between gender, 'race' and class and informs work on identities, leisure, changing cities and intersectional approaches in the critical, social analysis of leisure and sport.